Rosanna Xia

Rosanna Xia covers the environment, with a focus on California's coastline. She previously reported on natural disasters and wrote articles that connected science, infrastructure and policy. With a team of reporters, she published a series in 2013 that prompted lawmakers and the public to confront thousands of buildings at risk of collapse in a major earthquake. She has also covered higher education for The Times and reported for the Business section. An East Coast transplant, she graduated from Tufts University.

One of California's least tarnished stretches of coast will only be accessible by its wealthy property owners and those who can paddle two miles in from a nearby state beach, under a new settlement between coastal officials and homeowners that caps a years-long legal battle over public access.

USC has aggressively courted Chinese students and donors as part of its expansion. But allegations that a former gynecologist preyed on Chinese students has sparked alarm from the Chinese government and students. The stakes for USC are high.